Replacing heads and (hopefully) easy alternator issue

Will I finish it to drive her to Colorado?

  • Hell no

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • You will if you deprive yourself of sleep and the luck of the Irish kicks in

    Votes: 4 100.0%

  • Total voters
    4
  • Poll closed .

hauntedcbody

New Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2015
Messages
21
Reaction score
7
Location
Cleveland
Leaving for a Colorado road trip on Wednesday...

As I've mentioned in a past post I have a couple broken bolts on the driver side head. One being on the valve cover. Attempted to just toss on a new cork gasket.. Which helped but it still leaked. So I yanked the valve cover again and replaced the cork with RTV to attempt to get me through the summer in hillbilly fashion. It actually worked for about a week or so then the leak got worse than it ever has been. So here I am yanking the heads at 12am on a Wednesday. I found one machine shop here in Cleveland that said they could probably get em done in a day. I'm thinking maybe if I grease the right persons palms I could get em done for sure by Monday.
So my question is.
At this stage (check out the pics) are there any tips or words of advice you guys have to speed up the process? Anything to avoid? Best place to find proper torque specs/pattern? Anyone know anyone with a set of heads laying around near Cleveland?
I currently have the passenger exhaust manifold off. Going to start on the alternator and the AC tomorrow then hopefully the driver exhaust manifold and finally the heads.
Summit parts List:
1.magnetic bowls....Somehow have never owned one of these
2.Plugs and wires
3.A new valve cover.. Dented up the old one due to prying on it to break the RTV
4.Head Gasket kit https://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/fel-hs7891pt11/overview/make/chrysler/model/newport Is this a decent kit?
5.Head bolts
6.loctite
7.Wire Loom to clean up the wiring under the hood

Also the day I replaced the gasket with RTV I did a real quick clean up of the rats nest wiring and I think I may have pulled the blue wire in the picture off the alternator... After driving it I noticed the battery draining. There's multiple dead end wires under the hood so it kind of has me stumped.

So far I'm happy with the way the engine looks. Cam and lifters looks good. The Title and the odometer said roughly 60,000 so I think I can believe it.

Thanks for the knowledge everyone.. I'm slowly getting there. Learning more every project I do on this thing.

20160707_001039.jpg


20160707_001051.jpg


20160707_001504.jpg


20160707_001827.jpg


20160707_001809.jpg
 
Very nice.....kinda fun busting knuckles on one's beloved mopar, huh. Not quite sure when Chrysler made the switch (72 or 73) but since you have the heads out check and make sure there are hardened valve seats in there. If not you want to have them. My heads were trashed by the piss poor stuff being sold today before I had them cleaned up and threw in hardened seats.
 
I didn't read your other post. You have 1 valve cover bolt broken, what's the other 1? Are you sure you need to pull the heads to extract the broken bolts? You shouldn't need to replace head bolts.
 
Yeah 70_NPRT I've heard about the hardened seats issue. So I'm going keep my fingers crossed.
Broke an extractor off in the broken bolt... Previous owner broke off exhaust manifold stud. Both on driver side.
 
I think 452 castings (heads) already have them so that might be what your motor already has. Eitherway you might check it out to be sure or the gasoline today will trash your heads in short order depending on how much you drive. The valves in my cyl heads were fully receded into thier seats... one particularily bad one looked to be a full quarter inch receded into its seat. It was ugly in other words.
 
Also, for some reason I thought you always want to replace Head bolts when doing a Head job. I've only done a head job on a over head cam Volvo so this is a little different.
 
Whoo wee. Yeah that doesn't sound pretty. I'm hoping that's not the case. From what I've read the 452 heads are the way to go.
 
I replaced my head bolts with new ARP bolts. Make sure you torque those down properly and per spec as indicated in your FSM (I'm guessing you already know this). I suppose you can use the original bolts if they are in good enough shape....but I never considered that...I felt better using brand new bolts. Your choice, of course.

Yes, if you already have those heads then your good to go insofar as the unleaded gasoline issue goes. My 70' didn't, that is why I got that nasty surprise when I pulled them.
 
The 346s and the 902 heads have a hardening process done to the seats but not a true induction hardened seat like the 452s. You will likely cut through it with a valve job but with stock springs it will not be a problem for a long time. The head bolts are not torque to yield on these antiques so you can reuse them and a BB has five around each cylinder. Make sure to use a sealer around the new stud in the exhaust because they go to water
 
1.magnetic bowls....Somehow have never owned one of these
2.Plugs and wires
3.A new valve cover.. Dented up the old one due to prying on it to break the RTV
4.Head Gasket kit https://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/fel-hs7891pt11/overview/make/chrysler/model/newport Is this a decent kit?
5.Head bolts
6.loctite
7.Wire Loom to clean up the wiring under the hood

Gasket set should be fine. BTW, the exhaust manifolds don't use a gasket.

Normally I'd say that replacing the head bolts is not necessary, but if there's a broken head bolt (if I'm reading correctly) then it's probably a good idea.

Loctite??? For what? There's nothing there that you want to use Loctite on.
 
Gasket set should be fine. BTW, the exhaust manifolds don't use a gasket.

Normally I'd say that replacing the head bolts is not necessary, but if there's a broken head bolt (if I'm reading correctly) then it's probably a good idea.

Loctite??? For what? There's nothing there that you want to use Loctite on.
Broken exhaust stud and valve cover bolt. The exhaust stud toward the front or rear?
As far as the no exhaust gasket being used, this is provided both surfaces are perfectly flat and not pitted all to hell.
 
Ha yeah the Magnetic screw keeper. Definitely Will use high temp thread sealer on the stud. Good to know that I won't need new head bolts. That Will save me some $. Yeah I noticed there was no gasket on the passenger side exhaust manifold. And like half the nuts were almost hand tight. So I'm assuming somebody was messing with em at some point. Probably won't hurt to use gasket right?
 
Ha yeah the Magnetic screw keeper. Definitely Will use high temp thread sealer on the stud. Good to know that I won't need new head bolts. That Will save me some $. Yeah I noticed there was no gasket on the passenger side exhaust manifold. And like half the nuts were almost hand tight. So I'm assuming somebody was messing with em at some point. Probably won't hurt to use gasket right?

I never use them... and most of the ones I've seen installed are blown out, so I would say that you don't want to use one.

Sealer on the new stud is a good idea. Still not sure what you would want to use Loctite on though.... Unless that is the brand of sealer you are talking about. Loctite is the generic term for stuff you use on threaded fasteners to keep them from loosening.
 
If it were me I'd accomplish what you need to without pulling the head. Not easy but considering it's the front stud I think even installing a Heli-coil would be possible without pulling the head.
 
Broken exhaust stud and valve cover bolt. The exhaust stud toward the front or rear?
As far as the no exhaust gasket being used, this is provided both surfaces are perfectly flat and not pitted all to hell.
Ahh... I'm confusing this with the guy looking for one head bolt.... Not enough sleep last night.

Yep, the surfaces need to be flat and not pitted. I always run a file over the manifold anyway, but resurfacing the manifold is something that can be done by most shops pretty reasonably. If the head is pitted... Well... that's another story..
 
If it were me I'd accomplish what you need to without pulling the head. Not easy but considering it's the front stud I think even installing a Heli-coil would be possible without pulling the head.
Matt is correct here.
 
I put exhaust gasket on mine cause the surface of either must not be completely flat (guessing the manifold)..maybe it was brand new off the assembly line, but def not now. Soon as I did that it quieted down. Seem to be worse on the pass side, I don't know why.
 
Back
Top